Country artist and Kennedy native Eli Barsi celebrated her 30th year in the music business by taking home top honours-as Roots Artist of the Year- at the Saskatchewan Country Music Awards, April 26 in Yorkton. Barsi's husband, John Cunningham, was also honoured, taking home the trophy in the All Star Band (Specialty) category.
“The Saskatchewan Country Music Association is a great organization that works hard to represent the province's country music artists, musicians, and industry-related people,” says Barsi. “Since moving back to the province a few years ago, my husband and I rejoined the organization and are happy to contribute and take part in as many of the SCMA's events as possible.”
“We were both very honoured and thrilled to be the recipients of a couple of awards this past weekend at the SCMA's annual event. My husband, John Cunningham, received the award for All Star Band (specialty), and I was blessed to receive the Roots Artist award for the second consecutive year.”
Barsi's career as a singer, songwriter, recording artist-and even yodeler-has culminated in a unique sound that embraces elements of western roots, bluegrass, gospel, and folk. She began performing “When I was three- or four-years-old, learning complete songs for the family.”
After leaving college, moving to Nashville at the age of 20, and after 10 years of playing venues in the U.S. And Canada, Barsi started her recording career as an independent artist, releasing singles to country radio and videos to CMT (Country Music Television).
Her bluegrass, gospel, and western roots recordings brought Barsi to the attention of the iconic Sons of the Pioneers, which led her to a 10-year career performing in Branson, Missouri.
Now back in Canada, Moosomin-based Barsi says her 30th year as a full-timer in the music business will be a busy one, both promoting and performing music from her critically-acclaimed album, “Portrait of a Cowgirl” and writing new material for her next album.
“My 2015 music schedule has already been very busy with many shows so far south of the border, including Texas, Nevada, Tennessee, Virginia, Colorado, and Oklahoma,” says Barsi. “We look forward to being in Canada a little more this summer with festivals and concerts in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, B.C., and Manitoba.”
“If anyone would like to catch a performance, we welcome them, and my tour schedule is on my website at www.elibarsi.com.”
